hawairish

Sounds more like a short on the signal circuit, and the battery light illuminating is a false reading. The charging function of the alternator should have nothing to do with the turn signals, of course. I presume when you say the hazards work that the indicators on the cluster flash, as well as the front and rear exterior lamps. It only doesn't work when you turn on the left or right signals? And in that scenario when the gauge cluster cuts out, do the appropriate exterior lamps still flash? If so, you should be able to trace it to either the flasher unit, turn signal switch, or bulbs on the cluster. My hunch is at the cluster. Maybe pull one bulb at a time and try the turn signal. The reason the hazard function would work but not the signal is because they are two separate paths on the same circuit, but the hazard switch is near the start of that circuit. The turn signal switch is downstream of that.

@mcase, @Slartibartfast's spot on. You can even just pull the motor down pretty easily (it's 3 bolts I think?) and inspect the fan cage, give it a spin, check for debris or blockage, etc.

My opinion is this should have been omitted. It's none of your business how, when, or on what people spend their money on. Shaming them about it is bull@!*%. Haven't experienced this, and hope not to, but the issue has surfaced here in the past a few times. My opinion would be either option 1 (pull-a-part transmission) or option 3 (get it repaired professionally). Option 2 is largely throwing parts at a problem, but for all you know, option 3 could become option 2 if the shop says one of those parts is the problem and can change it without a full rebuild. Problem is option 2 may only be delaying an inevitable failure, and then you're right back at the beginning. If you think you can rebuild yours, but you need the truck operational to bring in income, then go with option 1 and try to limp along. This would give you time to rebuild the transmission, either by yourself or professionally. Swapping the transmission isn't terrible, provided you have a bunch of extensions, some patience, and a transmission jack. There may also be a lot in savings if you pull it yourself and still have it professionally rebuilt. Of course, if you're mechanically inclined and just happen to have an extra transmission to play with (after taking option 1), you might as well explore.

16" was stock for several years. I think even the pre-facelift trucks still had the 15" steelies and alloys that eventually made it onto the early Frontiers. Facelift LEs had the 17" wheels; SEs were 16". Doubt you'll have any issues.

Haha, I was…briefly! Tuesday was All Star Game and festivities, and Wednesday seeing J&L and my bro and his fam, then back on the road Thursday. Super short visit. Thought about you when we were flying through Medford, wish we could’ve stopped but we had a long drive ahead of us. Hope you’re well!

Interesting. I may dig back into it. Lokkas are just fine up front, given manual hubs. I ran one for a while. I’ll ask Towndawg how his is holding up…I’ll see him in 5 minutes, lol.

Sounds like a viscous LSD was installed. I vaguely remember reading about someone getting it to work since the rear R200 donors were also the same spline (29) as our fronts.

Yeah, I’m long with words sometimes. No LSD options for the front, so nothing to repack.

Def need a snap ring. At minimum the inner snap ring. It's what keeps the CV shaft in the spindle. Only time I've seen the outer ring land used is when the hub or drive flange has it accessible. Not sure what extra insurance it actually affords.

The R50s don't have those castellations, but I've seen them on Xterra spindles. There's mating ring that goes on, then the snap ring. I'm not sure that's the problem though. I wouldn't cut the castellations because you still need some spacer for the inner snap ring. You'd have to use the 1st style so that you could still attach the snap ring to something, but not sure it's advisable to only use the outer snap ring land. That ring washer doesn't look like the newer ones I've seen because of the way it has recesses for the screw, but more specifically the ring seems thicker and may be why the hub doesn't sit flush. Sydney doesn't have the internet or access to metric bolts? Upgrading to socket bolts was the way to go for me, but you can probably get studs and nuts for a R50 drive flange out there and use them on yours for the 1st style of hubs. P/N here is 01151-00271 for the studs, and 08911-6081A for the nuts. Appears to same for European and Japanese Terranos. Need 12 of each.

Free’s not bad, but I’d pay twice that for a 6-month cert.

Ha! We dealt with certs in my last line of work and there was nothing more annoying than a cert not getting renewed. For the most part, it was my IT guys getting the renewed cert beforehand and just not swapping it out. Difference there is they were 2-year certs, so an outage always caught us way off-guard. An expired cert was a total blocker in my line of work, and I could spend hours retrieving and processing missed data as a result once restored, not to mention damage control with multiple clients simultaneously. Absolutely sucked. That said, what's with the 3-month certs? Is there another cert authority that the host accepts that last longer, or is that just the CA of choice for the domain host? Guessing in a perfect world, the 3-month cert isn't a problem if auto-renewal occurs.

The FSMs have been back up for a while now. They were taken down the other year, but that's all been sorted. The screenshots I posted were from accessing the 99 FSM that day. It does appear that conversion doc is now no longer available, though. Since that other guide already shows how to bypass the P/N Relay in the box (you're basically just jumping the connections), the easier route to incorporate the clutch switch would just be to put it on the same circuit as the brake switch above the pedals. The ASCD module is just checking for any opening on the circuit, so if you add another switch there it won't know the difference. As for that relay bypass, if you want to keep the installation clean (and safe), you could pop open that relay and solder the connectors in there instead of just jamming wires into the open relay port in the fuse panel. Either way, make sure the wire is sufficient gauge, otherwise you're just putting a filament in place. Other way is to just make short jumper wires using crimp-on terminals. The FSM also confirms the following: Pin 18 is the signal to the Cruise lamp on the dash. The TCM also uses this as an input signal/switch that CC is engaged. Pin 12 is a signal to the TCM to turn off overdrive. This specifically occurs when the vehicle speed drops to 5 mph or more below the set speed, allowing the TCM to drop the transmission out of OD. Once the truck is 2 mph over the set speed, then the signal is turned off and OD use restored. The vehicle speed is detected by input from the gauge cluster ("Unified Meter Control Unit") on Pin 7, and speed is adjusted by the ASCD's control over the ASCD pump (Pins 8, 9, 10, and 14) That said, removing the TCM should have no impact on cruise usage, and wiring up the switch looks super simple. I'd bet if you can get the under dash wiring for the switch, you could just pop the terminals out of the harness and make it look like it was always there. For reference, you can find this info on EL-163 in the 99 FSM Electrical System. The first few pages cover the System Description, Schematics (shown above), and the Wiring Diagrams.

And I didn't read through all this, but that's very awesome that it exists! I'd love to MT swap my 04, but it seems extremely difficult to even acquire all the necessary parts. MTs appeared to be far more common in Canada; donors are practically nonexistent in the US.

Looking at the 99 FSM wiring diagrams for cruise control (a.k.a., Automatic Speed Control Device, ASCD) the difference between the AT and MT isn't much. Looks like all you'd need to do is replace the Park/Neutral Position Relay with the Clutch Switch, or wire it between the Brake Switch and the Hold Relay and bypass the PNPR. Only other uncertainty is whether there were separate AT and MT ASCD modules, and whether disconnecting the AT TCM affects the signal on Pin 12. My hunch is that the modules were the same and disconnecting the TCM won't be a problem.

Yes. I run a t-case from an MT Xterra on my AT Pathfinder (04) so can at least confirm the mating pattern. The lip on the front cover baffled me to; seems it was for seal lubrication since the cavity between the MT and t-case contains gear oil, whereas the AT cavity is dry (there's an output seal on the AT and an input seal on the t-case). The lack of a lip from an AT unit on an MT seems inconsequential, but it may be the case that those TX10s also ran gear oil instead of ATF. Nissan used both in the TX10, and considering there'd only be one seal separating gear oil from ATF, you'd probably want to considering flushing out the TX10 to run gear oil. The driveshaft yoke will fit the output shaft all the same, but the real question is if the transmissions are the same length. The FSM specs driveshaft lengths; as long as the rear (or front) drive shafts between an AT and MT for your model year truck are the same, then it's a pretty safe assumption the MT from a donor will be the same length as your AT. Unless you want to be into things for the long haul, I'd not go this route. I'd assume nothing bolts up, and everything needs to be brought over; just buy the Xterra. Otherwise, the regular MT swap shouldn't be difficult. My buddy converted a 00 Frontier AT I had to be manual; pretty much same exact job you're thinking of. Keep in mind you'll still need more than just the transmission: clutch pedal, master and slave plumbing/parts, floor panels/covers, center console, etc. Bypassing the shifter lock-out is trivial, and I don't recall if he had any issues after disconnecting the AT control unit.

One of my favorite topics. I'll take a different path to promote further discussion, but for starters I'll say an LSD (even a repacked one) isn't a true substitute for a locker. They're great for having a street and trail balance, and they can be made to do very well off-road, but they're simply not a locking differential. If there was a traction level chart that was specific to our trucks based on available device options, it might look something like this: Level - Front Diff, Rear Diff, Suitable Trail Use (Green/Blue/Red) 0 - Open, Open, Green 1 - Open, LSD, Green 2A - Open, Mechanical, Green/Blue 2B - Open, Selectable, Green/Blue 3A - Mechanical, Open, Blue 3B - Selectable, Open, Blue 4A - Mechanical, LSD, Blue/Red 4B - Selectable, LSD, Blue/Red 5A - Mechanical, Mechanical, Red 5B - Selectable, Selectable, Red Clarification points: For LSDs, there's obviously a scale between OE-spec LSD units and re-packed units, but they're still in the same traction level. "Mechanical" refers to auto-lockers (auto-unlockers, lunchbox, etc.) like Lokka (front) and Blokka (rear) units. "Selectable" refers to any locker that can be disengaged on demand, regardless of actuation (air, electric) : ARB, TJM, TRE Selectable lockers always have the advantage over a mechanical locker because they can be disengaged. This is particularly important when in tight steering situations, and everyday street driving. (This discussion ignores the use of manual hubs.) Levels 0 & 1 are still fully trail-capable, provided all tires stay on the ground. Once one tire lifts off the ground, especially on an incline, limitations immediately kick in. Notably, it's relatively easy to lift a tire with IFS. When coming from Levels 0 or 1, I advocate locking the front diff (level 3) before locking the rear (level 2), mainly because of issues that can occur when a front tire is off the ground and not rotating in unison with the other tire. That is, if you have a front tire spinning off the ground and you land on it, it's bad on the CV, mmmmkay? I'd skip level 2 for the most part. Level 4 & 5 do great for wheeling, provided you're mindful that an LSD is not a locker and that, at some point, it will start to act like an open diff. Red usage would basically warrant a re-packed LSD.

If you ordered the same F250 shocks, then yes, you'll likely have to modify and/or swap the bushings. I'm pretty sure I bought the KYB F250 shocks and you can't actually swap the lower bushing because of how it's pressed in; you have to bore out the existing sleeve. I can't recall what I had to do to the upper, though. But for the most part, F250 shocks used the same/similar hole sizes as ours, except the bushings needed swapping. Bilsteins can be made to work with relative ease. When I switched to them, I just went with a different upper bolt/sleeve setup since there was a little too much play with the M12(?) bolt. I'll try to gather more info and pics about both setups I ran/run.

General response since I don't know specifics of WD21 here, but normally you'll use one or the other and not both together. When you take it apart, the exhaust tube will either be flush or sunken in the flange and use the flat gasket, or the tube will protrude from the flange and use the ring gasket. It'll be fairly obvious, and if the ring gasket is used, you'll just need to pry the old one off first.

My hunch is the dealer may have a better idea on what to look for by now, since this recall effort is a few years old. I have an 04 and took it to the dealer long ago and looks like they just inspected it and ok’d it. They didn’t change out the air bag. Hope to never find out if that was a bad thing. On a related note, I just randomly received a check last week for $114 as final settlement payout for the recall. First check came long ago, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Hey T! Actually, there’s now a 33-spline Blokka available, I think. Pretty sure I saw them available on eBay the other week.

Not really any off-the-shelf adjustment techniques, unfortunately. You could check if the u-joint itself was worn enough that the change in angle is now exploiting it and maybe replace it, but I don't think it'll actually resolve the issue outright. Only real solution would be new trailing arms that are either adjustable or longer. On my truck, with all the lift, the pinion points upward a little more now, so to get it lower I'd either need shorter upper arms, or longer lower arms (realistically, shorter uppers would not be desirable, in my opinion). For a non-double-cardan driveshaft like ours, you want the pinion angle to be parallel to the output shaft. An angle finder would help confirm if the angles were in sync.

Noise is probably the rear u-joint due to the pinion angle post-lift. I wouldn't expect it with only 9449s, though, but if new, they're probably still yielding a lot of lift. I have the same symptoms on my truck, but with 9448s and 2" spacers. The noise seems less pronounced these days, probably because the springs are settling.

Bummer. Though you might’ve helped the OP if you mentioned that sooner that the trucks weren’t pre-wired.

Echoing this. Rebooting sucks, especially when the circlips are stubborn and the bearing retainer doesn't want to pop off. It's extremely messy, too. And for whatever reason, the cost of rebuild/boot kits are almost half the cost of a new CV on RockAuto ($25 vs $50). But as adamzan mentioned, OE axles may be worth rebooting.